Everyone thought they would be crammed together in tiny spaces. Thalia hoped it would be roomy enough so that they would all be able to travel in at least a bearable amount of comfort.
She was pleasantly surprised to see that the cabin assigned to her and Josei was at least large enough for them both to stretch out. Up and down every corridor and walkway boxes and containers were stacked but at least there were none actually inside the cabin. She found out later that their sleeping cabins were really the store cabins where the boxes and containers would normally have been kept. It made walking around the space ship’s corridors awkward and difficult.
She hoped they would not be on the Aikko for months and months and months.
The design of the Aikko was similar to that of the Limokko. On the top deck were situated the living quarters, on the bottom two decks sat the engines and the water cisterns that both cooled the said engines and provided the water for other needs, to grow the food supplies and for drinking water.
The engines ran on power crystals and contained energy that would last she knew from the time spent on the Limokko, with careful handling, for hundreds of xanus.
Hundreds of centuries ago the Diaglon had discovered the means by which they could harness the power and how to store it once it had been harnessed. This had been done by converting kinetic energy into potential energy, which could then be stored in a series of separate devices they called space elevators.
The middle decks, there were another two, were divided into compartments with no doors and contained food consumables, much of which was alive and growing and the other equipment. There was also a large area containing freeze dried protein rations and vegetable nutrients. The fresh cut and killed produce, stored in the cold compartments would be eaten first. Another compartment contained plant seeds in specially designed storage and growing chests. Yet more contained medical supplies, hide oil (very necessary for the Diaglon), replacement parts, the precious spare crystals, beacons, and tools. There were E.V.A. helmets and oxygen cylinders if repairs had to be done while in the zero atmosphere of space.
Thalia was pleased to note that these were Diaglon sized. She would never have to put one on and go outside the space ship. On the journey to Tak some artificers had been trained for E.V.A. work but she had never wanted to attempt the training, far less ‘go outside’.
Behind the engines were the oxygen purifiers, also crystal run which kept the ship’s air sweet and the equipment to extract life giving oxygen from plants if need be.
* * * * *
Duntan – echt – zan – tak – olf – rak – san – lok – vad - dun.
Ten – nine - eight - seven - six - five - four - three - two - one.
The engines fired.
The great thrusters that lifted the Aikko off the ground began to shudder and roar.
Thalia and Josei braced themselves as the ship began to shake and their ears filled with the sounds of take-off.
The Aikko pushed her bulk upwards, beyond the clouds, through the stratosphere and out into the darkness of space.
Strapped down inside their cabin Thalia and Josei waited for the equilibrium unit that would stabilise the gravity parameters to be switched on. Neither had been overly enamoured with their previous experience of lift-off when the Limokko had left the planet of their birth. The Aikko’s launch did nothing to dispel their opinions.
: After this if we never fly in a space ship again : she telepathed to Josei : it will be too soon :
: I agree : answered Josei, closing his eyes, covering his ears with his paws and pretending it wasn’t happening : Unfortunately, there is the little matter of the journey home again :
He sighed gustily.
At last however, the Aikko emerged from Tak’s atmosphere and began ascending without any of the bumps and roars.
Thalia unbuckled the lift-off straps and began setting Josei free too.
“You know,” she said brightly, “I’m beginning to feel hungry again!”
Josei gave her a dirty look. His stomach was heaving and he rather thought he might be sick.
“Poor old you,” cried Thalia, wrapping him in a hug at least as far as her hands could reach. “But you’ll feel better soon, I promise.”
“I know that,” he said, making his face look as woebegone and unhappy as he could, knowing Thalia would not be able to resist. She couldn’t and continued to hug him. They both loved these moments (without the feeling sick part).
The door to their cabin whooshed open. It was Katie.
“Coming?” she enquired. “Your Vadryz has been allocated the checking over of the …” she stopped and looked down at the list she was holding, “… the expedition rations and equipment, excluding the weaponry. I’m to join you.”
Katie spoke her last sentence accompanied by a beaming smile and as if checking through stores was quite the most wonderful occupation ever.
Thalia regarded her friend disbelievingly.
“If you weren’t my best friend I’d hit you,” she growled (it was almost identical to one of Josei’s), a point Katie was quick to notice and to act upon.
“Believe me Thalia, we got the best of the bargain. Cera’s complaining … she got the food and there seems to be a bit of a mix up, salted meat instead of dried or some such thing. Hurry up. After we’ve done we’re to go to see Anne and Lastair for a check up. Holad section is on the deck below this. Seems check ups are to be done daily, for everyone.”
“Josei’s not feeling too well,” said Thalia. “Perhaps I should …”
“My Kenlei is informing Lastair’s Saya right this moment. He’s not the only Lind reacting to the rapid take-off.”
“Rapid?”
“Didn’t you feel it?” asked a surprised Katie. “We must have reached orbit at least three times faster that on the Limokko. These are warships Thalia. The Aikko may be transporting us but it is not a transport.”
“I forgot. So where are these stores we’ve to check over?”
“This deck and three corridors along that way,” she replied, pointing. “And I’d hurry up if I were you. Zeb must be there already.”
Thalia almost knocked Katie over in her rush to precede her down the corridor and did bump into Lastair on his way to minister to Josei. She turned and yelled out an apology as she ran.
* * * * *
In the absence of Thalia, Zeb was in his element.
He wanted Thalia’s approbation (he had been seeking it since the day they had met almost twelve years previously) and what better way to go about it than to have the bulk of the checking done before she arrived? Unlike many of the Lind, Zeb’s Vya had been largely unaffected by the rigours of take-off and when Katie popped her head into his cabin to tell him what chore his Vadryz was detailed to do he didn’t hesitate. As soon as Katie’s head disappeared he had shot out of the door. Vya went back to sleep.
Zeb was new to the Fifteenth Ryzck, he had been transferred from the Thirty-third not long before Thalia and Josei’s promotion, and was keen to make an impression. Once he had located the untidy piles of boxes and without further ado (also without really thinking logically about how he should go about the task) he began to take down the uppermost supply boxes. That he should have started with the ones closest to him first didn’t occur to him. The fact that he didn’t have the list to check what he found against didn’t occur to him either.
He managed the first five or six without any problem, placing them down on to the deck in a haphazard jumble. He was up getting the seventh when Rodick appeared and promptly exploded when he saw the mess Zeb had created.
“Pawprints of Andei!” he exclaimed. “Zeb! Stop!”
Zeb looked down.
“What’s wrong?” he asked crossly. There is nothing worse for a person, especially a young person to be shouted at merely for doing what he or she thinks is a good job.
“This needs to be approached methodically,” Rodick roared, his hot temper getting the better of him.
&
nbsp; Zeb was turning back to push the seventh box back into place when his foot slipped and he fell, grasping at other boxes as he went in a vain attempt to defy the space ship’s gravity. The mini disaster was over in a split-heartbeat but not before a good half of the dislodged boxes found new, interesting, squinty ways to settle.
Rodick managed to cushion his fall so that the younger man (Zeb was twenty-one) did not break any bones but surprisingly, at least from the dazed perspective of Zeb, he didn’t immediately hunker down beside him and ask if he was hurt.
Rodick was standing staring at the tumbled boxes, his mouth agape and his brown eyes like large, round saucers.
This was the scene that met Thalia and Katie as they rushed into the corridor.
Rodick turned, raised his eyebrows then pointed at the mess of boxes. Thalia and Katie stepped forward to look.
They saw a small, white, tear-stained, human face.
It belonged to Mikey Karovitz.
* * * * *
“Come out whoever you are,” ordered Thalia in the sternest voice she could manage. Katie winced at the icy words and quite failed to recognise the suppressed laughter simmering underneath.
Mikey scrambled out from the boxes with Rodick’s ungentle help over the more unstable parts of the jumble. After a glance at Rodick’s angry face and head down, he dragged himself over to where Thalia waited.
“Well?” she enquired in the most reasonable voice she could manage under the circumstances as a person faced with a possible disaster on the boxed equipment front and a stowaway to boot.
Mikey was incapable of speech.
It has seemed like such a good idea at the time. He had descended the tree and made his way through the forest to where he had seen the light. It hadn’t been difficult because he had found a track, a well-travelled track, which had led him right to it.
In fact, Vada personnel bringing the stores the vadeln-pairs would need on the journey had made the track.
Being careful not to be seen he had made his way right up to the lighted clearing and there he had sighted the Aikko.
In true Mikey style he had decided that it wouldn’t do any harm if he had a little exploration spree around the space ship. One thing had led to another and he had further decided that a quick look round inside couldn’t do any harm either.
The Aikko didn’t have proximity alarms and the Brai crew hadn’t been aware of his presence.
Having explored round a few corridors he had decided that he had better get back to Stronghold before he was missed (they had indeed been searching for him for many bells) and had been making his way back to the entry door when he had heard the sound of people and Lind talking. Frightened, he had run back along the corridor until he had found the boxes and had wriggled inside the pile. He had planned to wait until the visitors had gone and then find his way to the exit.
“Well?” Thalia prompted. “Who are you?”
“Mikey Karovitz,” he mumbled.
“How did you get here?” she started, recognising the surname.
“I was, I was exploring and I found the space ship. I only wanted a wee look. I wasn’t going to stay long. I’m supposed to be visiting my cousin today. His name’s Tavin and he’s got a Lind called Whufflya. I’d better be getting back now.”
“You’ve ended up with more than a wee look,” said Katie.
Thalia remembered that during Tavin’s first evening at Stronghold Tavin had told her about his cousin Mikey and about his disappointment about not being chosen by Whufflya. Because of the recent excitements she had completely forgotten Tavin’s additional revelation that Mikey would be visiting Stronghold come holiday time. She perused Mikey with interest and a certain dry amusement. Tavin and Whufflya were in for a mind-blowing shock.
“He’s Tavin’s young cousin,” she whispered in Katie’s ear.
“Can, can I go home now?” Mikey asked in a voice that trembled with weariness and terror. He began to cry in earnest. “It was awful,” he sobbed. “There was a roaring and I felt I was being crushed! I could hardly breathe and I … and I … and I … wet my pants.”
Indeed, there was an unpleasant odour emanating from Mikey’s nether regions.
Katie bit back a laugh but outwardly Thalia remained as stern as anyone had ever seen her. She let out an exasperated sigh and turned to Rodick.
“Is Zeb all right?”
“Just a bit winded,” he replied. “He’ll be okay in a bell or so.”
“Take him back to his cabin,” she ordered. “If we don’t we’ll have Vya appearing and more complications as she tries to squeeze in.”
Rodick helped Zeb to his feet. He supported him as they began their unsteady walk back up the corridor.
Thalia and Katie shared a look that said volumes. What are were they going to do about Mikey?
“Well,” said Katie, placing a hand on his shoulder. “First I think we’ll get him cleaned up, fed and watered, in that order.”
Mikey looked relieved. Punishment was the more usual result after mischief and misdeeds, not a bath and food.
“I’ll take him along and get that part sorted,” she said to Thalia. “I’ll leave you to make your report to Ryzcka Vandiel - that Tavin’s young cousin is here where he has no right to be …” She pressed Mikey’s shoulder with her fingers and he winced.
Perhaps a punishment would be better, he was thinking. Vadeln Katie has a very strong grip.
As the three turned away from the boxes two more of Thalia’s Vadryz appeared. They looked at Mikey in stunned amazement.
Thalia ordered them not to say anything to anyone or anylind about Mikey’s presence for the moment and then ordered that they begin sorting out the mess and checking the list.
Katie thrust the said list into the hands of Christel. Thalia headed for the cabin of Ryzcka Vandiel and Katie began to guide Mikey in the direction of a necessary shower.
* * * * *
“Where is the boy now?” asked Vandiel after Thalia had explained the situation.
“With Katie.”
“Well,” Vandiel sighed. “He can’t go home.”
“I know. Are you going to tell him or am I? I’m not even sure if he’s realised that we’ve already left orbit.”
“The situation would almost be comical if it wasn’t so serious,” mused Vandiel. “I certainly don’t want to be the one to tell him. He’s Tavin’s cousin you say? There’s your answer. Tell Katie to take him to Tavin’s cabin when she’s finished with him. We’ll let him break the news.”
Thalia had to laugh. The thought of Mikey’s shocked face when he leant about where his curiosity had led him appealed to her quirky sense of humour.
“And then?”
“We’ll keep him busy, never fear. I can think of hundreds of ways by which we can keep him out of trouble. I’ve always believed that the punishment should fit the crime. Devilment and inquisitiveness led him here. Now he meets the consequences. Lessons and hard work should cure the first, the second we shall nurture. When he gets home he’ll be a lot older and wiser and with luck he will have learned to think first before he acts.”
“Lessons?” queried Thalia, appalled that she might actually have to teach the scamp.
“We’ll start him with weapons-work,” decided Vandiel. “That, with Artem, and then he can help with all the little odd jobs we can think of. Dirty, exhausting little jobs that will tire him out so much that he’ll be so exhausted he won’t be able to get into more trouble.”
Zandya, Vandiel’s Lind, who had been sitting listening quietly, laughed in her turn.
“I can think of many,” she offered. “The first being the clean up of the necessary area. We Lind eat a lot as do the Brai. Cleaning in there will soon make him realise the error of his ways. He sounds interesting for a human child. I would like to meet him.”
“There’ll be plenty of time for that,” said Thalia. “This journey could take years.”
“A long time for a young lad to be separated
from his mother,” agreed Vandiel. “It will be a shock for her when she learns about it, especially as our mission is of the utmost delicacy and very few know as yet. That will only make the news appear like an impacting meteorite!”
Before he had become vadeln-paired Vandiel had been a student attending university studying the new sciences that had been revealed after the Dglai Wars. He had written his thesis about consequences of meteor impacts.
* * * * *
The dining area at Stronghold was large and the Lind often joined their human partners during meals. The Lind, although most of their protein intake came from raw meat, enjoyed much of what humankind enjoyed (in Josei’s case, stew and vegetables) and knew that a diet made up of a hundred per cent kill-protein was not healthy long term. They ate fruit and vegetables in quantity although they never touched alcohol. The eating area aboard the Aikko was small and cramped. Thalia missed his company at meal times.
She was sitting alone at a table for two when a shadow loomed over her plate.
“Mind if I join you?’ enquired Artem.
She had hoped he would and had watched him pick up his meal tray and saunter over as if by accident.
Katie, watching from a nearby table, was not fooled. Since her friend’s break up with Daniel Ross, she had been concerned about her. Other men had approached but Thalia had been uninterested and it had showed. They had backed away.
She could do with a love affair or at least a flirtation, she thought, tucking into her food and making polite conversation with Jim, Max and Vandiel. She surreptitiously glanced over to Thalia’s table from time to time, hoping.
“There’s a spare seat,” Thalia answered Artem trying not to show any enthusiasm. She hadn’t forgiven him yet for not being more forthcoming with her about the firearms and the mission. He must, she had decided, have known about it.
I may be attracted to him but …
Artem sat down and began to eat. The silence affected Thalia and she began playing at the food on her plate with her fork. At last she couldn’t hold it back any longer.